Roll Your Way to a Fit Body: The Best Foam Roller Exercises

Don't be fooled by its minimalist, no-frills appearance: A foam roller is one of the most valuable, inexpensive, and versatile pieces of gym equipment out there, says Lauren Borden, a certified structural integration practitioner and founder of Mind Body Manhattan in Manhattan Beach, California.

It can help release tension in your connective tissues and work out kinks and knots in sore muscles (a good stand-in when a hands-on massage doesn't fit your schedule or budget). Plus, it can be used as a strength-training tool, helping to engage key muscles you want to tone, like your arms, abs, thighs, and butt. Because the foam roller is a curved, unstable surface, it can replace a BOSU trainer or stability ball in many exercises to improve your balance and fire up your core muscles. And the roller can even be used to mimic some of the same moves done on the Pilates Reformer to tone and stretch muscles and improve posture, giving you that long, lean look.

Try this total-body foam roller workout, created by Borden, three to five times a week.

Keep It Safe
You may feel discomfort-as in the hurt-so-good feeling of a deep-tissue massage. But you should never feel sharp pain (if you do, stop!), and the pain shouldn't linger into the following day (if it does, take a break from rolling for a few days). Start with light, quick motions and progress to slow, deep rolls.

Loosen Up
Hit a tight spot? Roll directly onto it and hold for 30 to 60 seconds. This activates your muscle's proprioceptors (which monitor upticks in muscle tension) and prompts the muscle to reflexively relax, easing the pressure.

1. Reverse Push-through

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Sit on the floor with a foam roller behind you, your legs extended in front of you, and place both hands on the roller, arms straight and palms facing you. Engage your core, then slowly lower your back toward the ground, letting the foam roller move up your arms. Hold for five seconds, exhale, then slowly roll back up to start. That's one rep. Do three to five. Perks: This move works your core and upper back while opening your chest—all major posture improvers.

2. Butterfly Lift

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Lie faceup on the floor, arms at your sides, and place the outer edges of your feet on a foam roller, with your soles pressed together and knees out in a butterfly position. Press your feet into the roller and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips toward the ceiling. Pause, then slowly lower back to start. That's one rep. Do 10 to 15.

Perks: Your glutes, hamstrings, and outer thighs get a workout as you try to keep the roller in place.

3. Scissors Balance

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Lie faceup on a roller, with your forearms on the floor, elbows bent. Keeping your legs straight and body balanced on the roller, raise one leg straight up and the other a few inches off the floor. Slowly switch legs. That's one rep. Do six to eight. Perks: Your deep core muscles (especially your obliques) have to work hard to stabilize your body as you balance on the roller.

4. Rolling Lunge

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Stand on your right foot, knee slightly bent, and put the top of your left foot on a foam roller behind you, leg straight. Raise your arms directly overhead. Bend your right knee lower and extend the left leg back, pressing it into the foam roller as it moves up your shin, until your right thigh is nearly parallel to the floor. Pause, then return to start. That's one rep. Do four to six, then switch sides and repeat.

Perks: You'll engage more muscle fibers than in a regular reverse lunge.

5. Shell Curl

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Position your hands shoulder-width apart on the floor, arms straight, chest lifted, legs extended behind you with a roller just below your knees. Keeping your back flat and core tight, raise your hips to pull your knees toward your chest. Pause, then slowly return to start. That's one rep. Do six to eight.

Perks: Nixes tightness in your shins after a run or a long day in heels.

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